The Community Bloodbath… and me

UPDATEIDDY TO THE UPDATE: Living in Venice, a destination known worldwide is a bit different than, lets say, living at Hoover and Slauson. To many, it “means” something to live in Venice… like Berkley and other similar destinations, and that something that in turn means different things to different people. They defend it as such. Dawna Chaet, Heidi Roberts, Tracey Cochrane Bret Haller from YoVenice, Peggy Lee Kennedy and associated “Free” newspaper, and many others have made some very serious accusations lately about me personally… fed to them from someone who is less than credible, who has an agenda and some very serious pending criminal charges against them. ALL of these accusations, some made up and/or embellished by these individuals and some loosely based on hearsay, to date have not held up in court. In fact all actual allegations put forth in court have been refuted or thrown out.

Those locally with an agenda of their own did no job in following up on checking facts on their own. Proper course would be to get, and cite actual FULL court transcripts of these allegations ( not cherry-picked testimony ), and they have not. If they had, they would realize what they are parroting is not true. That is okay though. For those who have never been in a serious lawsuit, they can cut their teeth on this one. I have fought for what is right in court through the proper channels the right way, and I will continue to do so with this. No problem. Just so you know, people who are willing to step forward, spend money and sue in court over such things typically are standing on pretty firm ground, and I am. A newsflash for the uninitiated: “reprinting” false allegations that someone else has made or printed and making a claim that you are just “referencing” their story does not excuse you from libel and slander. Give your attorney a ringy-ding and ask them about that one. It is no defense for publishing false information. No defense. You are causing the same damage, and have made no demonstrable effort to fully check facts. AND, when those facts are available, and you still printed or reprinted information… whoopsie. You are liable.

Dawna Chaet showed up at a court hearing ( not a trial, a hearing ) in New Hampshire last week. The purpose of that hearing was to vacate the 1.3 million defaulted judgement filed against me by my business partner when he was 2 months away from facing criminal trial. If you don’t know what a default judgement is, it is when someone files something about you, and you don’t respond at all, and their claim “defaults” or is just granted because of lack of response. There was no trial. No finding of any guilt at all. It was all just papers filed in court. Why did this happen? Because the party that filed, as required by law, did not notify me of their filing so I could respond. Why did they do that? Because they didn’t want me to respond. They wanted the default so they could run with a story about it and deflect attention away from this gentleman’s pending criminal trial. Read the court transcripts. People do some pretty crazy things to avoid jail and criminal conviction.

Dawna Chaet had no purpose for being at that hearing. She was escorted at one point from the courtroom for yelling and screaming. She was present when testimony was given regarding allegations of a “photoshopped” picture. The allegations were that a very lewd and damaging photo of my business partner was “faked” by me to damage him. On the stand and under oath, he did not deny that it was him in the photo with the girl. Additionally, the person who took the photo stated under oath, the events in a high school bathroom where the photo was taken of my business partner and the girl. The photo is real. I was not there, I did not touch it or deal with it ever in any way. A panel of digital forensic experts concurred. Although Dawna was there for that testimony, she has made widespread allegations that I photoshopped this person into “child pornography” and has sent it far and wide. Those words are all hers by the way. Very intentional and irresponsible of her. She in fact, is accusing me of being a child pornographer. That is pretty damn serious. Not only is it false, that was not even the claim alleged in court about the photo. She made that up and used those words on her own to be intentionally damaging. Although she witnessed testimony to the contrary, she has decided to misrepresent the facts and events in an effort to damage me personally. She apparently is too caught up in her own “hunches”, that she is seeing fit to decide the veracity of what is true or not true on her own, and she continues to perpetuate these claims and engage in my life in a disruptive manner daily, from Boston. That and other egregious claims made by her ( and there are many ), and then in turn perpetuated by others are false, horrendous and all will be held to be accountable for these terrible accusations in court. If you have ANY doubt of this, request the court transcripts yourself… and enjoy reading. You will see that everything I have stated is 100% true

When I say all of it. I mean all of it.. every person and every statement, and I am going to enjoy listening to everyone explain their actions in court ( if their attorneys let them make it that far without otherwise making a full retraction, which will be part of the record ). My next reference to any of this, will be my court filing.

Doing cartwheels,

Alex

Thursday June 2nd, 20110: Being a resident of Venice that has a strong sense of care about the community, I recognize and realize the diverse personalities and characters that are the makeup of neighborhoods all over the country, not just here.

People are passionate about issues. Inspired. Angry. Jealous. You name it. People act, and react based on what is important to them. Adversely, everyone in Venice has been impacted by the presence of Ms. Lindsay Lohan and the media frenzy feeding gossip sites like TMZ, which are a reflection of our own humanity. We love and are riveted by the scandalous and sensational.

As thrilled as I am to be a part of it, I draw the line at damage and lies. There is an infamous quote that goes, “If people aren’t talking about you, you are doing something wrong…”. I am not a public figure. I am a neighbor. I attend meetings and speak my mind on issues that matter to me. As a result, I have of course become the target of those with an opposing view, an alternative website or publication, and even seemingly people who agree with me on many issues, but want to be the focus of attention as the main “problem solver”.

I have thick skin and the norm of what is buzzing neighbor hysteria in Venice is normally easily dismissable… but now things have gone beyond snipey water-cooler alleged gossip and are firmly and legally in the realm of personal defamation, slander and intentional destruction of business. The key thing about these statements, is that they are made with malicious intent, which is provable. When you maliciously broadcast a lie about someone, especially in a widely distributed manner such that in incurs damage, in our fair land you can be held legally liable. That is how I intend to handle this matter.

I can easily jump into a defensive mode. The accusations being made are so many, so incredibly outlandish, so diverse, and based on assumptions and pieces of information that as stated are not true or absolute fact - but are being put forward definitively as if they are, and that is wrong. Worst of all, it is very harmful and personally damaging to me.

To be clear, and final about this, I am going to proceed in a manner which I think reflects proper course, integrity and transparency. I am filing suit against several individuals and publications for making, distributing and publishing false, defamatory and slanderous statements about me. The scope of this effort will be complete. It will include all the juicy bits from my being a lesbian, committing alleged felonies, being 27 different people, having neighbors pay my bills, having my own undercover police vehicle, beating a homeless man with a baseball bat, and much, much more. Every person that has willfully made, distributed and published accusations against me, and Venice311 will be called to court and/or deposed to personally explain, justify and prove the veracity of their statements, and they will be held accountable for the damage these direct and intentional actions have caused.

I wish there was a faster remedy. It has been my experience in life that people can say whatever they want and everyone loves to juice up gossip, but when they have to hire a litigation attorney and stand in court to directly attest under oath and prove their statements and allegations…. suddenly their “truth” turns out to be something they heard, or a rumor, and their lightning bolt of intended damage will in turn just damage themselves. Gossip is one thing, but what is going on here is directed at me, intentional, inaccurate and very personally damaging. The free for all has come to an end, and I will issue cease and desists and take this out until the final accusation is addressed and factually laid to rest.

I am filing suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. Those who have made, distributed and published these false and damaging allegations will have their glorious day in court to prove it all as I seek justice for this malicious and sensationalistic witch hunt. Everyone is free and welcome to attend.

The thing that has always disappointed me most about Venice is that people seemingly prefer to talk about bad than do something good, regardless of who or what is at issue. I prefer to do good, which had made me a target. That is okay. I will happily give all their moment to prove the veracity of their accusations under oath in court, and I will. At this point really, I have to. In the meantime, I’ll be painting over some mean graffiti, snagging up sofas and mattresses, and getting a few streetlights turned on.

I eagerly await, and have full confidence in the outcome. It is bizarre how one person can come to so much seeming power in a community. We’ll see what comes out in court.

Alex ( fill in with alleged alias of your choice here ) Thompson

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